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My client of about 2.5 yrs now (and now one of my good friends) has always done the same nail design since coming to see me for the first time in Hawaii. She always did the iridescent silver glitter gradation. A few times, we used gold, or this past Christmas we used some red, but silver glitter was her favorite & regular. But today…our first new set of the year, she decided to change up her nail M.O. and do something different.
She chose a very chic design with simple colors & clean lines.

It had been a while for me to actually do some nail art, and it was so much fun! I love the design on her– more importantly, she loves it!

Her usual “mermaid glitter” is just going to have to take a vacay for now.

Natural nail gel overlay: CalGel #46 & #04

The line down the middle going up from the tip of the triangle at the base of the nail gives the illusion of lengthened nails.

I am so excited we got to try something new. It’s not too crazy of a design; simple, but not boring. Very chic!

If you’re a creature of habit– especially with nail designs, why not change it up a bit and welcome 2015 with fresh nails!

One of the first few nail designs I did when I first moved to San Francisco was this “drop” design I learned at a CalGel training seminar.
First a color (generally a dark color) of gel is used. Then, a very thin/ translucent white layer of gel over the cured color layer is applied. Without curing that white layer, a drop of clear gel is gently placed at random. This creates a scale-y / mermaid-y design.
Since it was spring when I moved up here, I used lighter colors as the base. I recreated the design for a friend a few weeks later, using bright colors & gold.

Natural nail gel overlay using Trump Gel & CalGel.

Sculpted gel overlay using Trump Gel & CalGel.
This is a really fun design that allows you to get really creative and just have fun creating something unique. Play with different color combos and drop placements!

Just before I moved to the Bay Area in February, I had one of my former co-workers at the nail salon in Hawaii treat me by doing my nails for me. This was the last time I had serious claws. We went all out!

I had selected several nail designs I liked, and used them as inspiration. I’m really into aliens and super natural. I think alien shapes and images make for cool designs– clothes or nails. Eyes & Evil Eyes I am obsessed with! I even have an evil eye bracelet tattooed on my wrist, I have Evil Eye jewelry, & I’m always thinking about what “eye” things I can get. I’m also totally & beyond into triangles. They are definitely my favorite shape. Gold is my favorite metal color, and I just loved the pink & purple colors of the 3D cone shaped stones. They were perfect with monochrome color scheme I went with.
Shadé did such an amazing job on my nails!

This nail set was a natural nail overlay using CalGel and Trump Gel.

These nails don’t necessarily have an obvious theme, except monochrome, lines & outlines. Don’t be afraid to mix-and-match and flirt with the “weird”.

It’s been a while! 2014 was a crazy one! I moved to CA and am starting everything from scratch. I haven’t been doing nails at all! Terrible– I know! But I finally got around to doing it just in time for Christmas.

If you noticed, my nails are short! My claws have been filed down to little shorties since June! It’s crazy but with my new job, it’s just impossible to keep my beautiful class intact.

This design was created using CalGel and Trump Gel. This nail set is a natural nail gel overlay. Gold & clear iridescent glitters with different sized gold hexagon Splash! brand holograms.

It’s still summer and fashion trends are all about the colors and bright. Same goes for nail trends. Yet, black nails still seem to be a trend that defies seasons.

I’ve been wanting to try out black nails for a while, and even though it is summer, I decided to give it a go.

Some of my nails broke and I didn’t want to extend them, so I have some mini claws. Since the stiletto nails are more fragile, I decided to lay a layer of Bio Sculpture gel first for a little strength. Then I used Trump Gel for the rest of the layers. I topped it with soak off hard gel by Trump Gel.

It is a French, but at more of a diagonal “V” shape rather than a curve. I used gold holograms by Eriko Nails to line underneath the French. Instead of directly under the line, I spaced the holograms down a little further. For a few of the nails (more specifically, the mini claws), instead if lining with holograms, I put random neon holograms, by Splash, on the black French.

Lately everyone has been wanting to rock the stiletto nails– more than ever! Unfortunately, you need a a certain length to accomplish this nail shape. Luckily, there are extensions! Though not as strong as your natural nail, extensions can be a quick fix to obtaining the desired nail length and shape. How you care for it will determine how long you can rock them.

I prefer to extend nails via sculpture forms. I don’t like using plastic tips because they aren’t as strong. Tips are applied with glue and really have no hold. But sculptured nails are formed to your free edge. They are more natural looking and fit better.

Alongside with the stiletto nails trend, the heart French design has been in big demand. I have done several variations of it in the past month. Here are some of the June – July extention claw designs:

This was done for one of my besties. She’s a new mommy! These are gel tip extensions. I used the soak-off hard gel by Trump Gel for the tip extension. Neon pink is soft gel by Trump Gel and the leopard print was drawn using their art gel. Art gel has a less runny consistency and is great for drawing fine lines with. The pigment also seems to be more vivid. The gold glitter and holograms are from Eriko Nails.

These are actually a natural nail overlay. She has finally graduated acrylic nails and has patiently grown out her natural nails. She had tips on when she first came in! She came up with the design herself. We used Trump Gel for everything.

Ms. T! She is AMAZING! I love her! She is the sweetest client and I have known her for a decade. She has been a client of mine when I worked retail. She normal gets regular manicures with polish and always on her natural nail. But this time, her gorgeous daughter convinced her to get extensions and do the gel. Ms. T is a fan of French nails, I personally love it on her. So we did a simple French with glitter line. We added leopard print and hologram nails for accent. These are sculptured nail extensions. Again, Trump Gel was used for everything.

The amazing daughter of Ms. T! She’s a sweet and gorgeous girl! Just stunning and so much fun. She wanted “vampirial” nails, as her bf calls them. I have her sculptured extensions using the Tump Gel hard gel. Her nails were very short. I wish I had a “before” picture! Probably about 1-1.5mm of fee edge. Which is just enough for sculpt.

Just for fun! Mother & Daughter.

For a hard working gal, Ms. A. Se works 2 jobs and has no day off! Hats off to her! She’s going in vacation to Atlanta to visit her cousin. And she needs her nail game on point! We did sculpture gel nails. She has an idea in mind for the base design of the nails, and I just added the stones and studs according to myself. Luckily, she loved it! I used hard gel by Trump Gel for the sculpture and for the white.

Finally, my own nails. These are my natural nails. I am in the midst if growing them out. I cut them really short about 2-3 months ago. And I’ve been trimming and growing. Getting there. I just thought if try a fun design out. Kind of vampire inspired, I suppose.

Claws are still in! Just be sure you treat your nails as jewels and not tools. ESPECIALLY if you are wearing nail extensions. They break more easily and are fragile. Be sure you use your knuckles to press buttons, and coins to scratch off things like tape or goo, and also coins for opening aluminum cans.

Summer is here. And summer brings summer vacations. Disneyland and Disney World are still huge destination spots for vacationers.

It seems to me that Disney is picking up fame with increasing speed. It’s basically the new Hello Kitty.

I have several clients who are obsessed with Disney. And, of course, are balls to the walls about Disneyland / Disney World. So, when they told me they are going to take a trip and wanted Disney- themed nails, I had to oblige.

Most people ask for the typical Minnie Mouse design. The red with white polka dots. And also for the Minnie & Mickey Mouse combo, wih black background and silhouettes of Mickey.

Then, one day, I got asked to make Mickey-Mouse-shaped balloons! How awesome of an idea is that? Super colorful and super fun!

I hand painted all the balloons using Trump Gel’s art gel. I also had the pleasure of creating 3D parts that were icons of Minnie & Mickey Mouse.

But the most unique one, was Disney Princess theme. It’s not as obvious Disney-themed as the other designs, but it came out really cute. And really Disney Princess-y.